The more important issue presently is the question of the Spratley islands: the consequences of Ho Chi Minh’s decision on the transfer of the Spratleys and Paracels to Red China and an extremely huge potential danger arises for all Vietnamese people’s rights and interests. This also involves what you have referred to as effect on peace and stability in the Southeast Asian region. In reality, the potential danger to stability can spread even further.

LKT: Professor, I would like to return if I may to the issue of the Spratleys and Paracels. To continue with our conversation today Professor, there is a rather important point Mr. Le Cong Phung appears to be very concerned about and has expressed some personal frustrations over the issue of Sino-Vietnamese border. What did Mr. Phung reveal to me is that from now until the end of December this year, conflicts over some high grounds along the Sino-Vietnamese border are to be solved. About those high spots, I asked Mr. Phung if they are strategic routes that Chinese armies had used over thousands of years to invade Vietnam, he said that they would be. Those six high spots are still under contention between Vietnam and China, would you, Professor, you have a definitive appraisal of those six spots, and in your opinion, what importance do those high spots play in the present context of Sino-Vietnamese relations?

Prof. Canh: First of all, for many years Beijing has pressured the VC to complete quickly the border pegging and marker building. Why? To make it a “fait accompli” and therefore render irreversible whatever the VC have pledged in the 1999 border agreement. Remember that the CC have never trusted VC leadership, always consider them as a treacherous group. And therefore, the Chinese demanded that this work is to be done by the end of 2008. The VC are chasing that deadline. After the border has been pegged out, Beijing will publish a map of the new border line. We will know by then where and how much land we lose. The VC dare not publish the map which is supposed to be attached to the 1999 agreement.

Next, I am pretty sure the issue is related to those high spots. There are two significant routes the Chinese armies had used in invading Vietnam. One is the Nam Quan pass area in Lang Son, and the other area is north of Ha Giang province.

Concerning the Nam Quan pass area, if we look north, there are two mountain ranges in Quoc Khanh village, Trang Dinh district, to the left. These two ranges being adjacent to Nam Quan pass look over the route from China to Vietnam. I know they are now completely occupied by CC. They are now inside CC territory. And to the right, there is a region called Binh Do 400 (of Cao Loc district) the location of which is behind the border marker no. 26 (based on Tien-Tsin Agreement). Binh Do 400 is also in the Chinese hands. The two high ground areas flanking both sides of Nam Quan pass which helped defend Vietnam, are now lost. From ancient times, whenever China invaded Vietnam, their armies were defeated at that pass.

Now that rugged mountain area which serves to protect our fatherland has fallen into CC hands.

The second point is another other strategic position situated on the Ha Giang border. In Ha Giang during the 1979 war, the CC sent 3 armies, plus two independent infantry divisions from Kunming (14 divisions in total) to invade the northern Ha Giang border area. The route for advancing troops into Vietnam in this area with rugged mountains is no longer in Vietnamese territory. It was exactly the area where our ancestors stopped the Chinese advances to invade our country. At present the CC troops have occupied and held tightly on to that area which has been annexed to CC territory. The CC have changed the names of two of those five ranges of mountain to Lao Son and Giai Am Son (see attached summary).

In the future, if CC brings its armies over to occupy more land, with these two areas in their hands, the invaders will march over at their leisure.

LKT: Dear listeners, in the first part of our interview with Professor Dr Nguyen Van Canh on borders between China and Vietnam that we have just concluded, the Professor has clearly presented his views and at the same time his reaction to Mr. Le Cong Phung’s recent statements. As we know this is a response from a professor who has done many careful studies on the issues concerned. Professor, we have just discussed the situation of Nam Quan pass and when we mention Nam Quan pass, we Vietnamese do not fail to recall Ban Gioc waterfall, which forms possibly the most picturesque scenery of Vietnam in the North, and as everyone knows at present and also according to Mr. Le Cong Phung, half of Ban Gioc belongs to China, is this true?

Prof Canh: I cannot be quite certain about verification as the VC Party covers everything up. However I think the loss of Ban Gioc fall is true. Previously Ban Gioc fall lay deep in Vietnamese territory, but today half of it lies in CC, and especially since CC built a reinforced concrete dam over a section of Qui Thuan River, half of Ban Gioc fall belongs to China exactly like Mr. Le Cong Phung said. Consequently, if pegging and mile posting are to be done, Ban Gioc Fall must be on a new line and they have planned the border line to go through the middle of Ban Gioc fall, instead of being way up north according to the Franco-Chinese border map, and not along the midstream of Ban Gioc waterfall like what Phung talked about.. The picture/illustration in the attached document can say more clearly about the situation of that waterfall.

LKT: Professor, however, Mr. Le Cong Phung stated that based on the two maps issued by Vietnam and China respectively, according to that Franco-Chinese map the border peg was situated in the middle of the river at that time, is this correct?

Prof Canh: I do not think so. I am sure that the Ban Gioc fall area in particular lies deep in our territory, and according a VC’s document released in 1979, CC sent 2000 soldiers over the border to cast a reinforced concrete curtain along a tributary river bordering Vietnam in order to change its course, and the Ban Gioc fall previously is inside our territory; now the border has been moved so close that we have lost half of the Ban Gioc waterfall. Only a few days ago, a Vietnamese correspondent reported that three years ago the CC embassy in Hanoi organized an excursion from Vietnam to visit Ban Gioc waterfall.

Among the invited guests were Viet Communist Party officials, also news agencies etc. What for? To prove that part of this waterfall belongs to CC. The famous scenic resort is now named in Chinese ‘Detian, Premier Spectacular Scenery‘. That was also a signal to the CPV, to Vietnamese people, and to the world that the situation is irreversible. Certainly, the CPV’s mouth will shut up again like they have been doing so far. Please see the illustrations in the appendix.